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Monday, February 23, 2009

Residents gather for 14th annual Community Unity Celebration

‘We pray for guidance in this 14th gathering of this community to celebrate our unity, and we know God that we must work hard to achieve this goal, but through you all things are possible.’ — the Rev. A. Clark Jenkins

MORE PICTURES IN THE PHOTO GALLERY

THIS STORY COURTESY THE KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

By JEFF BOBO jbobo@timesnews.net

KINGSPORT — Sharing music and uniting in prayer, Kingsport residents came together Sunday evening for the 14th annual Community Unity Celebration, demonstrating once again that people can work and worship together while appreciating each others’ cultural diversity.

JALISSA FERGUSON'S MOM HOLDING A PICTURE OF HER DAUGHTER The event is sponsored every year by South Central Kingsport Community Development Inc. (SCKCD) and was inspired by the tragic death of 4-year-old Jalisha Ferguson, who was killed by a stray bullet while playing in her yard in 1994 when a drug deal in her neighborhood turned violent. Every year the event reminds Kingsport residents that although they may be separated by different neighborhoods, different churches or have different skin color, they still share the same goal of making Kingsport the safest and most prosperous city for everyone who lives there.

In that spirit the annual SCKCD scholarship was awarded to Dobyns-Bennett High School senior Phillip A. Hamilton, who will receive $500 toward college tuition throughout his four years of college studies. Presenter Linda Calvert, who read from Hamilton’s application essay before presenting the scholarship, said she knows of no one better deserving of the award than Hamilton, who is a role model for youths in his community.

Another award presented during Sunday’s event was the SCKCD Community Service Award, which went to Johnnie Mae Swaggerty in recognition of her work with children over the past 20 years and the long list of volunteer activities she performs in community programs. She volunteers with Kingsport Big Brothers-Big Sisters, she's a tutor for the Kingsport Literacy Council at Johnson Elementary School, she's the Upper East TennesseeHuman Development Board Secretary of Head Start Policy, she volunteers with the Kingsport Boys & Girls Club, she's a board member of South Central Kingsport Community Development, Inc., she is a youth mentor for DEFY (Drug Education For Youth), she volunteers in the soup kitchen at the Kitchen of Hope at the Full Gospel Mission Church, she's a Youth Leader on the Kingsport Clean Team, she's a Special Advocate for Juvenile Court, she's a volunteer with VITA (the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program), she's the Vice Chairperson of the Ebony Club Association and a member of the Douglass Alumni Association Trustee Board, and a Daughter of Dunbar Temple #344 Elks Lodge.

KINGSPORT MAYOR DENNIS PHILLIPS SHOWING BLACK HISTORY PROCLAMATION TO DR. IVY MCQUIRTER, PROGRAM PARTICIPANT Kingsport Mayor Dennis Phillips read a proclamation establishing February as Black History Month in Kingsport and asking “everyone to join me in thanking our African American citizens for their contributions to our community and nation.” But the main attraction for Sunday’s Community Unity Celebration, as it has always been, was the music and dance performances on the stage of the Eastman Chemical Co. Toy F. Reid Employee Center, which has hosted all 14 Community Unity events.

THE COMMUNITY UNITY CHOIR

THE MOUNTAIN MISSION SCHOOL CHOIR

DR. IVY MCQUIRTER Among the vocal performers were the Community Unity Choir, the Mountain Mission School Choir from Grundy, Va., and Dr. Ivy McQuirter performing a reading of a selection by African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar.

THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH PRAISE TEAM

THE HALES CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH PRAISE TEAM There were also dance performances by groups from Central Baptist Church and Hale’s Chapel United Methodist Church of Gate City.

The invocation was given by the Rev. A. Clark Jenkins of the First Broad Street United Methodist Church. “We pray for guidance in this 14th gathering of this community to celebrate our unity, and we know God that we must work hard to achieve this goal, but through you all things are possible,” Jenkins said.